Tobacco Tax Makes Headlines About Affects on Health

Tax can help health
April 6, 2009
Chicago Tribune

Your article on cigarette taxes "Cigarette taxes burn low end" (Chicagoland, April 2) left readers with the impression that increases in cigarettes taxes are a burden for people with low incomes. These are the facts:
1. Smoking is a health risk for everyone and increases the burden of disease for all smokers regardless of income as well as those exposed to secondhand smoke.
2. Smoking increases health care costs both for those who have private health insurance and for taxpayers who support government-funded programs for the poor and uninsured.
3. Cigarette taxes are a proven strategy to encourage adults and teens to quit smoking and to discourage children and teens from starting to smoke.
4. Over time, the any tax revenue decreases are offset by the public health benefits: fewer heart attacks, pre-term or low birth weight babies, reduced cancers, and the list goes on.

The Illinois General Assembly is considering raising the cigarette tax by $1 and increasing the tax on other tobacco products such as smokeless and cigars. The Illinois Coalition Against Tobacco urges swift passage of these proposals. We need to move quickly to address the tobacco use in our state that claims more than 16,000 lives each year. The tobacco industry wants us to believe that they care about people with low incomes when in fact they care only about profits. It's time to put an end to the myths of the tobacco industry and support a higher cigarette tax to improve the health of all Illinoisans.

--Diana Hackbarth Chair, Illinois Coalition Against Tobacco
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/opinion/letters/chi-090406hackbarth_briefs,0,7173696.story